Lawyer Fined for Revealing J.K. Rowling's Pen Name

A Lawyer, who leaked J.K. Rowling's secret pen name Robert Galbraith in July 2013, has been fined $1,642 by the Solicitors Regulation Authority for breaching client confidentiality rule.

A lawyer who revealed J.K. Rowling's secret pen name Robert Galbraith last year has been fined 1,000 pound sterling ($1,642). The Solicitors Regulation Authority slapped the lawyer with a written rebuke and ordered him to pay financial penalty for breaching client confidentiality rule "by disclosing confidential information about a client to a third party."

The ruling was issued on November 26, but was only published on December 30. According to the statement from the SRA, the lawyer Chris Gossage of London law firm Russells Solicitors should "act in the best interests of each client" and "behave in a way that maintains the trust the public places in you and in the provision of legal services."

Last year, Gossage told his friend Judith Callegari that the author of "The Cuckoo's Calling" was actually Rowling. Callegari then leaked the information in a conversation with a journalist on Twitter. Rowling filed a lawsuit against the two, saying that she was "angry and distressed that her confidences had been betrayed." Rowling then accepted their apology and charity donation.

"I had hoped to keep this secret a little longer, because being Robert Galbraith has been such a liberating experience. It has been wonderful to publish without hype or expectation, and pure pleasure to get feedback under a different name," she told U.K.'s The Sunday Times in July 2013. The sale of the novel soared after Rowling was confirmed as the author.